Stars in the Sky
by Before the Sun Sets
Summary: Late at night, Angel and Collins go outside of NYC because Collins wants to show Angel something amazing. AngelCollins oneshot fluff, for Angel Dumott Schunard Collins’s birthday!


**Disclaimer:** I don't own, I RENT.

**Summary:** Late at night, Angel and Collins go outside of NYC because Collins wants to show Angel something amazing. AngelCollins oneshot fluff, for Angel Dumott Schunard Collins's birthday!

**A/N:** This fic is written for Panda (Angel Dumott Schunard Collins), cause it's her birthday on Friday! Happy Birthday Panda!!!

* * *

Angel awoke to Collins gently shaking her shoulder. "Come on, baby, I want to show you something." 

She glanced at the clock, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Wha? Honey, it's one o'clock in the morning. Where are we gonna go this early?"

Collins grinned. "It's a surprise. Come on, grab some shoes and let's go." He was already fully dressed.

Angel slowly started feeling around for her sneakers down by the side of the bed. In her half-asleep state, not only did she not find the sneakers, she wound up almost falling off the bed.

"If we don't hurry, we'll miss it!" Collins quickly found the shoes, handed them to Angel, and gently placed her red jacket around her shoulders. She pulled the old tattered sneakers on, stood up, and walked slowly towards the door.

"Oops…" she mumbled sleepily as she collided with the doorframe. Collins stifled a chuckle and, rather than let Angel keep running into things, scooped her neatly into his arms.

By the time they'd gotten downstairs, Angel had fallen asleep, cradled in her lover's strong arms. He placed her gently in the passenger seat of the waiting car, then hopped in the driver's seat and started it up.

Over the low rumble of the engine, he heard another sleepy mumble from Angel, "When did we get a car?"

Collins chuckled, pulling out smoothly into the streets, keeping an eye out for the considerable number of drunks stumbling home at this hour. As he drove, he answered Angel, "It's Joanne's. She let me borrow it on the condition that I'd take Maureen out the next time she needs to work at home. Said Mo's too distracting and she can't get any work done with her around."

Angel chuckled sleepily, "I can imagine…" She curled up a little in the seat and fell still. Listening to her deep, steady breaths, Collins could tell she'd fallen asleep again.

"Angel, wake up! We're here!" Collins put a hand on her shoulder and shook gently.

"Whuzzat?" Angel shot upright, looking around blearily. "Where are we again?" A glance at the clock; 3:00. They'd been driving for two hours?

Collins rolled his eyes. "It's a /surprise/, I told you! Come on, it's about to start!" He took Angel's hand and helped her to her feet, steadying her with an arm around her waist.

The sleepy drag queen allowed him to lead her away from the car, out into the breezy night. After a moment, the pavement under her feet turned to grass. Angel opened her eyes fully and looked around; they were walking into a small field of grass. There were only a few houses in sight, and these were small, homey-looking places.

"What is there to see out here?" she asked, confused. There didn't seem to be anything out here.

Collins didn't answer until they got to the middle of the field, where he sat on the ground and gently pulled Angel down with him. "Look up."

His lover obligingly tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. Her mouth fell open, and her eyes widened, catching the reflection of the millions of stars visible among the darkness of the night sky.

"Oh my god…" she breathed, mesmerized by the sight. "Collins, it's beautiful! I've never seen so many!"

Collins grinned. "It's about to get even better." He laid down on his back, opening an arm invitingly. Angel laid down right next to him, her head pillowed on his outstretched arm.

They gazed up at the sky in comfortable silence for a few minutes, but then Collins whispered, "Look! It's starting."

"What's— oh…" Angel trailed off as streaks of light began to shoot across the sky. At first, it was only a couple at a time, but more and more popped up. Soon, it was like streaks of light had made a net across the heavens.

They laid there, completely still, staring in awe at the dancing lights above them. Unconsciously, Angel snuggled closer to Collins, leaning her head on his side.

Ten minutes later, the last shooting star faded into the black. It was silent for a few moments more, neither of them wanting to break the spell. Finally, Collins felt Angel moving up onto his chest, and, a moment later, felt her soft lips on his. The kiss grew steadily more passionate, their arms going around each other and pulling the other closer.

Three and a half minutes later, Angel slowly pulled back, panting slightly. She laid her head on his chest. Gradually, she rolled over onto the grass again, cuddling into Collins's side and gazing up at the sky.

"Collins? Can you show me the Big Dipper?"

He smiled. "Sure, baby." Lifting his other hand, he pointed into the sky, moving his head closer to Angel's to get the angle right. "See that line of stars right there?" he asked, tracing it with his finger.

Angel furrowed her brow, staring at the sky for another moment before exclaiming, "Yes! Yes, I see it!"

"At the left end, there's a sort-of square-trapezoid-thing of stars. Can you see that?"

"Yep!"

"Well, that's the Big Dipper."

Collins couldn't hold back a chuckled at Angel's excited squeal. "How about the Little Dipper? With the North Star and stuff!"

He pointed that constellation out to her as well. Angel clapped excitedly, fascinated by the patterns people had found in the heavens. "Are there others?"

"Well, of course there are! Like, there's Casseopeia." He pointed to a W-shaped bunch of stars down by the horizon.

Angel stared at it for a moment. "Casseopeia? That's a weird name for a W."

Collins chuckled lightly. "Well, it's named after a queen. The myth says both she and her king were put up in the heavens, but Casseopeia was vain and shallow, so the 'gods' put her chair in a place so that it's upside-down half the time."

His lover giggled. "Really?"

The anarchist nodded. "Yep. And, see, there's Orion's belt." He pointed out three bright stars, all in a line. "Part of Orion the Hunter."

"What's the story behind him?" Angel questioned, curious.

Collins racked his mind for a minute to bring the myth back to memory. "Orion was supposedly a hunter in ancient Greece, who was both handsome and strong. However, he allowed the praises of others to go to his head, and, as punishment, the gods sent Scorpius, a scorpion, to sting his foot and kill him. However, one of Orion's admirers convinced the gods to put him in the stars, on the condition that Scorpius was placed there too to keep him in line."

Angel gazed at the constellation for another moment, then spoke again. "Then where's Scorpius?"

Collins thought for a moment. "I think he's only out in the summer."

"Oh…" Angel fell silent, just watching the sky for a moment. "Wait, why is that stripe of the sky lighter than the rest?"

Her lover grinned again. "That's the Milky Way."

"What?"

"Our solar system, with the nine planets and the sun, it's only a very small part of our entire galaxy, the Milky Way. We're pretty far out from the middle, actually. That band you see, it's trillions of trillions of faraway stars, all their glows added together to make that lighter color."

Angel blinked, pondering this. "Then what's in the middle of the galaxy?"

"A black hole, actually." Angel opened her mouth to ask another question, but Collins put a gentle finger on her lips and answered the question he knew she had, "The reason we don't get sucked in is because we're in movement. The Sun revolves around the middle of the galaxy, and we revolve around it."

"Oh…" Angel gazed up at the sky in silence for a little while, processing all this new information.

It seemed like time had stopped for them, there in that dark field. Angel asked about a few more constellations, and Collins answered as best he could. Then they just lay there, gazing at the endless stars above.

All too soon, Collins noticed the rosy red fingers of dawn creeping over the horizon. "Angel, baby, look. The sun's rising."

Angel sat up slowly, peering off to the east, where the first sliver of the sun was just beginning to peek up over the edge. Collins slowly came to a sitting position too, and Angel leaned her head on his shoulder. They watched until the sun had come all the way up, splattering the heavens with all sorts of colors and rendering the stars invisible. As the previously pink light started to turn to the normal bright yellow-ish light, the two got up and slowly made their way back to the car.

As he slipped into the driver's seat, Collins asked, "So, what'd you think?"

Angel leaned over and kissed him gently. "I love you."

Collins smiled, his question answered. "I love you, too."

* * *

_I know, the ending's a bit sappy, but still. Oh, and all that stuff Collins says about the stars is true. Also, did anyone catch the Odyssey reference I threw in there? Tell me if you did! _

_Hope you liked your present, Panda! Happy Birthday!_


End file.
